How to Properly Clean Your Garage Door
Getting around to cleaning your garage door can be difficult. On the list of things you have to do in order to maintain your home in pristine condition, it can often be easy to overlook the need to give it a nice thorough clean up until the point it’s darkened and caked in dust and dirt. Properly cleaning your garage door can not only make your curb look better; however, as beyond aesthetic appeal, it can help improve not only your security but also extend the lifetime of your door.
Before you start, though, there are a few things to prepare:
Sponge or Cleaning Cloth
You should try to avoid any abrasive or otherwise harsh washcloth or sponge. The last thing you want to happen is for the coating of your garage door to come off alongside the grime and dirty or, even worse, to scratch it up! Additionally, it’s highly advised that you prepare a few dry rags or towels to dry the door down once done, especially in the colder months.
Cleaning Solution
When preparing your cleaning solution, you should ideally prepare two separate ones. For your mild solution, almost any kind of dishwashing liquid or soap will do; you’ll need plenty of this solution to clean your door fully, so about two gallons of warm water should do. Next, add a cup to a cup and a half of your detergent into the water and mix it.
As well as one stronger one contains a mixture of bleach and warm water mixed in with some laundry detergent. While the proportions don’t necessarily matter, be sure not to add too much of either, you should ideally have no more than approximately half a cup of detergent for a gallon of warm water. This solution will target more difficult spots and more difficult patches of hardened dirt. Keep in mind not to rub your eyes while using these solutions, and after using the bleach solution, you should wash your hands thoroughly to avoid chemical irritation!
Step Ladder
. . . Or for more daring, a chair or a decently sized box may do. The key is to give yourself a bit of height to easily reach the highest parts of your door. Optionally if you lack a ladder, you can use a mop to reach the highest parts of the door.
Things to Remember While You Clean
Though the actual process of washing your garage door is, for the most part, self-explanatory, you still keep in mind a few things:
- Do not overuse your bleach solution – This solution is made to take care of the most difficult stains on the door! Liberal use of it may result in discoloration on certain garage doors. While cleaning the door with this solution, you should also keep most of your belongings away to prevent possible damage!
- Don’t be lazy! – While it’s tempting to clean the dirtiest bits of the door and give the rest a simple rub over, it’s quite important you make sure the entire door is cleaned thoroughly! If you decide to get lazy, you may end up with one side of your garage door as pristine as the day you’ve had it installed and the other still having grime stuck to it.
- Don’t use a pressure washer – Pressure washers can speed up cleaning quite a bit. However, they can often also apply far more power than necessary. However, you can use a hose to rinse your door so long as you keep the water pressure low!
If you don’t happen to have a door to wash or feel like your old garage door would need far more than just a thorough wash, why not contact us to get a new one? Our team will happily help you out with professional advice as well as a brand new (and clean!) Garage Door!
